‘Hondurasgate’: the henchmen of the Donroe Doctrine

Two weeks ago, TV channel Canal Red released audio recordings of conversations between Honduran government officials. These recordings reveal a network of corruption and coercion involving Trump, Javier Milei, and even Benjamin Netanyahu. Together, they aim to establish a stronghold for US imperialism in Honduras and create a network to pressure left-wing governments in the region, such as those in Mexico and Colombia.

What is in these recordings?

The audio recordings expose a network of bribes and conspiracies within the Honduran government. The main figures in these recordings are former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, current President Nasry Asfura, and Vice President María Antonieta Mejía.

The recordings reveal that Asfura and Mejía are devoting significant time and resources to removing Marlon Ochoa, former treasurer of the Libre party – the left-wing reformist party that governed from 2022 until last year’s election – from his position on the National Electoral Council. Ochoa has openly expressed his suspicions of electoral fraud in the November 2025 elections, which were also heavily influenced by Trump’s public promotion of Asfura and denunciation of his opponents.

Recordings include personal promises of three million Honduran lempiras to prosecute Ochoa, and even the desire of certain National Electoral Council members to kill him:

“Tell me how we’re supposed to move forward without getting that bastard Marlon out of office. We can’t do anything, we can’t make any changes, we can’t touch anything, and we can’t go anywhere until we’re clear on where we stand with the impeachment. Once the impeachment is done, we’re out of here. First: jail or death. That’s how I’m going to put it: jail or death. I demand it—or blood, or dismissal.”

The recordings also reveal bribes paid to buy votes in Congress in order to expedite trials – especially Ochoa’s – and purge opposition members from legislative seats and public office.

As the government tries to rid itself of any vestige of the Libre Party, the old, corrupt and disgraced politicians are plotting their return.

Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) ruled Honduras with brutal repression between 2014 and 2022; he was extradited and sentenced in the US to 45 years in prison on drug trafficking charges. President Trump pardoned him of those charges in November of last year, two days before the election polls opened. Shortly after he granted a pardon to this convicted drug trafficker, Trump cynically used the accusation of complicity in drug trafficking to justify bombing Venezuela and kidnapping its president.

Now JOH has his sights set on regaining the presidency and is laying the groundwork for an election campaign in the upcoming elections. One exchange between a member of JOH’s party and Jorge Cálix (the leader of the Liberal Party) reveals that JOH is paying Cálix to muster up votes for them:

“You're 12 votes short—you need 12 more. People are turning their backs on you, Jorgito [Jorge Cálix]. I think you’re going to have to make up that money. Get your act together, Jorgito, get your act together.”

Lastly, combing through the audios of back-and-forth blackmail of relatively insignificant figures, big names are mentioned. Notably, Donald Trump, Javier Milei, and Benjamin Netanyahu!

The leaks suggest that JOH was released by Trump on parole on condition that he make the Honduran government a bastion of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ and cede territory, contracts, and minerals to the US. One exchange between JOH and President Asfura runs as follows:

“We had spoken; I had sent a message that we were going to win and that they should support me at this time. The presidency has to return to the right hands, and that is what he [Trump] wants. If they go against him, I’ll let him know immediately and the whole government will fall apart.”

There is also audio of JOH admitting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is largely responsible for his release.

“We need to open our eyes a little; the global situation isn’t so good. The Israeli prime minister is going to support us. We’re very grateful to him; they played a key role. In fact, they were decisive in my release and in the negotiations.”

Thus, the Israeli prime minister is directly involved in the domestic politics of several Latin American countries to support reactionary governments and politicians who back Zionism.

The ‘Trump Corollary’

Currently, the United States has the explicit mission of regaining control over Latin America, its historic ‘backyard’, in which China has been increasingly consolidating its economic influence. China is now South America’s main trading partner.

The goal is to keep China out of key industrial investments and raw materials, such as rare earth minerals. To do this, they need local governments that are fully at the service of US imperialism.

As stated in the National Security Strategy document:

“We want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.”

Trump has the support of right-wing demagogues in the region, such as Milei in Argentina, Kast in Chile, and Asfura in Honduras. Along with other leaders in the region, they have joined the ‘Shield of the Americas’, an alliance aimed at protecting the interests of U.S. imperialism in Latin America, once again under the pretext of the fight against drug trafficking. These countries can now officially request US military intervention to respond to internal and foreign threats.

Trump has the support of right-wing demagogues in the region, such as Milei in Argentina, Kast in Chile, and Asfura in Honduras / Image: public domain

In the leaked recordings, it is revealed that Asfura paid a visit to Mar-a-Lago, where he mingled with investors for the construction of a U.S. military base in Roatán (an island off the coast of Honduras) and the construction of an interoceanic railroad by General Electric. One recording of a call by Asfura to JOH reveals that:

“As for Palmerola [the U.S. military base in Honduras], we’re going to move Palmerola, specifically there, to Roatán, where Próspera is. A base, yes, that’s already been negotiated. The interoceanic project too. We’re going to commission General Electric to do it. The plan is to source all the metals and the rest specifically from Argentina and the United States, avoiding Canada and China—those warnings were received. The Chinese were making an offer, but we’re not going to give in. We’re going to put an end to that.” (our emphasis)

There it is! A new fortress for the US military in the Caribbean, mineral extraction rights, and infrastructure contracts for US companies, while Chinese offers are turned down. This is clearly in line with the objectives set out in the National Security Strategy document:

“We should also collaborate with regional governments and companies to build scalable and resilient energy infrastructure, invest in access to critical minerals, and strengthen current and future cyber communications networks, so as to fully leverage the United States’ encryption and security potential.”

Manipulation

What about governments unwilling to cooperate?

Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil all have governments not directly under the control of US imperialism and have become thorns in the side of Trump’s foreign policy in the region. They have spoken out against the genocide in Gaza, the attacks on Venezuela and Iran, and the false pretext of drug trafficking to intensify militarisation in the region.

For over a year, Trump has threatened them with tariff retaliation to keep them in line, with mixed results.

The ‘Hondurasgate’ audio recordings reveal that JOH’s plan was to create a communications team to target the governments of Mexico and Colombia. The information presumably came from the Mexican and Colombian right wing. JOH is recorded saying the following to Asfura:

“We’re going to create a cell, Mr. President. From here, from the United States—an informational one—so they can’t track us in Honduras. It will be a Latin American news website. I was on a call with President Javier Milei and it went well. Very, very, very well. And I think that right now we can do great things for the entire region. There are cases on the way against Mexico, cases against Colombia, and, most importantly, against Honduras—in this case against the Zelaya family.”

And in another recording, JOH, this time speaking to María Antonieta Mejía, says:

“And I need that liquidity because we’re going to set up an office here. With support from some in the Republic so we can attack and eliminate the cancer of the left in Honduras and all of Latin America. I was telling President Asfura that we managed to speak with Javier Milei, and that he’s also going to contribute $350,000. Another great friend of ours from Mexico is also contributing, just for the Mexican angle. We’re practically ready and waiting for this to move forward with full force.”

It’s no surprise that Milei is one of the investors in this reactionary start-up. The Argentine economy is in a downward spiral, with rampant inflation and growing discontent; one of Milei’s tactics is to blame ‘socialism’:

“We’re not going to let go of power. Whatever needs to be done, we’ll do it. And if things get ugly, it’s the communists’ fault. That’s the narrative: they provoked it, they started the violence. We’re just responding.”

A blow to ‘democracy’

Earlier this year, the release of the Epstein files revealed to millions of people that the fate of economies and nations is not decided at the ballot box, but in private meetings, phone calls, and text messages among the rich and powerful who buy and sell favours in defence of their class interests. ‘Hondurasgate’ proves this once again.

The ruling class conspires and plots to get its way, without caring about the formalities of democracy or national sovereignty when the fundamental interests of US imperialism and its multinational corporations are at stake.

These parasites are organising and conspiring. The response cannot be an abstract appeal to ‘legality’ and the defence of ‘the rules of the game’, but rather an understanding that just as they defend their class interests, workers and peasants must uncompromisingly defend their own.

Democracy and national sovereignty can only truly be achieved through revolutionary struggle. A definitive struggle against imperialism and its lackeys throughout the region is the struggle against capitalism.